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St. George Marathon Runner Comments
Back to St. George Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.8 
Organization 4.8 
Spectators 4.3
Number of comments: 216 [displaying comments 161 to 171]
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M. M. from Salt Lake City, UT
(7/4/2005)
"Great fun! I want to run it every year!" (about: 2003)
1 previous marathon
| 1 St. George Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon and I absolutely loved it! Great course, the hill comes early enough and then you get a nice downhill course. It was the best race I have ever run. I look forward to running it soon. | |
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John Jory from Winnemucca, NV
(5/7/2005)
"Marathon heaven" (about: 2001)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 St. George Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I ran my first marathon in St. George in 2000, and ran my 3:58 PR a year later 6 weeks after 9-11. This is a very special place to run a marathon with its beautiful balance of scenery, crowd support & organization. Every marathoner should do St. George. This point-to-point course is undulating and mostly downhill. The small juniper fires in the pre-dawn darkness are wonderful with 5-10 runners huddled around each fire. The white and red castle-like cliffs at mile 14 as you descend into Snow Canyon State Park are as spectacular as you'll see anywhere. Miles 20-25 constitute a moderate descent, so train the quads when you're tired and you'll earn a PR. The crowd support is minimal until the city limit at mile 23, when it's hot and passing 70F. By mile 23 I move into the mental focus where it feels so good and so hard (you know what I mean). The crowd 'carried' me the final 3 miles as I jubilantly crossed the finish line into the misters. The sandstone medals are classy and the refreshments in the spacious grassy park are tasty. One tip: share the joy. Find a place on the edge of the park to cheer on runners at the finish line while sipping on your favorite beverage. I enjoyed a very emotional hour as runners stumbled, sprinted and celebrated the completion of their 26.2 miles. Great event, St. George. I'll be back. | |
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D. H. from Provo, Utah
(3/5/2005)
"Bands played as you ran though the city" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 St. George Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon and I am lucky to live only 4 hours away from St. George. I cannot compare it yet, but I loved it. When you enter the City of St. George after running out in the valley, you see bands multiple bands playing! The WHOLE 4 miles in the city you see fan support. I couldn't believe it. The food after was wonderful, and I even got a free massage. If there weren't hundreds of marathons out there I want to do, then I would run this one every year. | |
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S. A. from Los Angeles, CA
(2/26/2005)
"Great course!" (about: 2003)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 St. George Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Train for the hills and you can get your PR here. The spectators on the ground were great, but the ones in the ultralight gliders were a pain in the ***! If you run this race, make sure and show them how you feel (use your favorite hand signal). | |
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M. W. from Cary, NC
(10/31/2004)
"#16, and by far the best" (about: 2004)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 St. George Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Incredible marathon, probably the best organized one I have ever done and possibly even the best overall I have ever done. OK, so the lottery is tough, and finding a hotel is even tougher. But once you are past those hurdles it is fabulous. A great race expo, easy to get in and out, with no lines and a bargain pasta dinner at $8 (other marathons PLEASE take note!). Getting to the start was easy, and the fires to keep the runners warm were unique and wonderful. Bag drop-off was flawless, as was all of the support along the course. And the course was incredible. After a very casual first half I decided to actually run for real in the second half and enjoyed that nice long downhill (though the quads hated it for days after!). The end was very well run with tons of food and drink (again, other marathons please take note!), ice cups to massage the legs, efficient bag pickup and plenty of grass to stretch out on. I have almost a strict policy of not repeating marathons, but this is the one that I'll probably break that rule on. Compliments to the organizers, volunteers and the fellow runners. Absolutely the best! - Mike | |
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i. s. from toronto, ontario, canada
(10/15/2004)
"I love UTAH" (about: 2004)
2 previous marathons
| 1 St. George Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Utah is more beautiful than I could have imagined it to be. The people of this town were amazing; great race to meet people. If you're looking for a fast race, this might be it...'cuz there are a lot of downhills. They started to hurt after awhile - I was hoping to 'drop and roll' at some points. My biggest disappointment was that my legs hurt too much post-race to enjoy Zion/Bryce Canyon the way I would have liked to. So I will have to make a trip back, 'cuz I love Utah! One of my best vacations. | |
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L. F. from north Texas
(10/14/2004)
"Awesome course!!!!!" (about: 2004)
2 previous marathons
| 1 St. George Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 The course is superb!!! The post-race food/drink were great. My complaints: 1. The map in the brochure that indicated where the expo was held was not accurate. It took us forever to find the expo. 2. The course elevation map on the website is inaccurate. 3. The motorized hang-gliders were annoying!!!!! They 'buzzed' the runners repeatedly. They wouldn't have been so annoying if they had flown over once or twice, but over and over? 4. The lack of hotel accommodations in St. George for runners--the hour drive to reach St. George from another town was LONG. All in all, the good things about the race far outweighed the bad things. And thanks to the veteran St. George runner who gave me advice about the hills!!!! | |
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L. W. from San Diego, CA
(10/13/2004)
"spiritual experience" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 St. George Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This race was more than I ever expected. The runners' comments on this website had prepared me to expect a good race, but it was incredible. I loved how the race is limited to a manageable number of runners. If it weren't for the lottery, the race would be a nightmare with too many people crowding into that little piece of heaven with the breathtaking scenery. Everyone in the town of St. George that we met was super nice, from the rental car person, to waiters and waitresses, the runners themselves, and each and every person involved with the race. The race course was a dream. I trained for hills, and I knew qualifying for Boston was within my reach when I came to mile 19-20. I appreciated being able to see the finish line from a distance of almost a mile. It really allows you to pace yourself at the end. And a bonus was that the clothing at the expo and the race t-shirt are super-cool! The bottom line is that if you want a race to feed your runner's soul, go to St. George! | |
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k. j. from wv
(10/12/2004)
"Couldn't get any better" (about: 2004)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 St. George Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was #13 for me (including two trips to Boston) and still St. George is the best. The scenery and the moonlit start are great but the finish is fabulous!! The steadying bars for chip removal (always hard after 26.2 to balance on one foot while someone tugs at your other shoe), followed by the misting showers, the nice medal, the moist washcloth, good fun food, and quick access to loved ones in a grassy park were all great. The only thing that bothered me in the past about St. George was the crush to get bags onto the truck at the start of the race. This year I just left my bag on the ground about 50 yards from the truck and... sure enough there is was at the finish line. Congratulations St. George for putting on such a great event. I'll be back (lottery allowing). | |
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Colleen Gibbs from Carlsbad, CA
(10/11/2004)
"Slam Dunk Great" (about: 2004)
2 previous marathons
| 1 St. George Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I ran this marathon because I heard from a friend it was beautiful, laid-back and all downhill... Well, she was right about the first two. It IS beautiful, and since I am not a big-crowd kind of gal, I'll choose natural beauty over a 'great crowd' any day. Laid-back... yup. What a great little town is St. George! The people and spectators were so friendly and supportive and welcoming. I get all choked up thinking about how they really roll out the red carpet for us all. The organization is grand, too, without being overbearing or overly officious. Even waiting for the buses to get to the start felt like a high-school track meet... so casual and easygoing... but on-time! The course is beautiful and the people who come out in their sleeping bags and lawn chairs in the rural, sleepy morning made the whole thing seem cheerful and festive and almost... personal. Can't beat the fires at the start, the pink, pearly sunrise, the grandeur of the red rocks, the intermittent breezes... But there are hills. Ascents and descents. Just one or two 'big' hills, but the ones that come later, while small, are definitely there and it seems like even though for every ascent there is a descent, I could have done with fewer, thanks. I had a very blissful 22 miles. But I think altitude had its way with me, because I was having a very hard time at the end: Thank goodness for the very cool pacer (Clif Bar Team) who kept me 2 minutes ahead almost the whole way. Toward the end, there is a group of people handing out icy wet washcloths (how cool it THAT!), a band playing (appropriately) 'The Weight' by The Band (one of my favorites), and a LOT of sweet children's faces. I thanked every volunteer I could from the very start, and high-fived everyone I could reach. Thank you to all the wonderful people who really gave a sincere effort at lifting our spirits. The finish line had showers!! The finish-line area... I saw people eating ice cream, sandwiches, popsicles, etc. So much to choose from... too bad I was totally destroyed and had to go straight back to my hotel and start drinking beer in bed (for 24 hours, mind you). The bags for sweats were readily available and very well organized. I PRd and qualified for Boston. I hope to be back again next year. Wonderful town. Wonderful race! |
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